Technical foul bans may alter seeding

The NBA’s best center and two-time Defensive Player of the Year wasn’t even allowed inside the Amway Center on Monday night when the Trail Blazers escaped Orlando with an 89-85 victory.

Dwight Howard had to serve an automatic one-game suspension because he had picked up his 16th technical foul of the season in Orlando’s loss to the Bulls on Friday.

If you think Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was frustrated to play without his star, consider how teams battling Portland for playoff positioning in the West felt. By Monday morning, just a game-and-a-half separated the fifth-place Nuggets from the eighth-place Grizzlies, with the Blazers and Hornets sandwiched in between.

As tough a first-round opponent as the Thunder would be out of the No. 4 slot, they’re not the Spurs, Mavericks or Lakers.

That makes the No. 5 seed worth fighting for. In such a tight race, Portland’s good timing in facing the Magic without Howard could have dramatic effect by season’s end.

The league adopted its technical foul suspension schedule for the 2005-06 season, and then-Pistons star Rasheed Wallace believed it was aimed squarely at him. He had, after all, accumulated 27 technical fouls in 2004-05. While that paled when compared with his 41 technicals in 2000-01, the fact he was able to vent so often without losing anything but fine money prompted the stiffer penalty.

When it comes to outrage about foul calls, Howard is no Wallace, but he is paying for Sheed’s temper.

The Knicks and Magic lead the league in technicals accumulated this season by players and bench personnel, with 50 apiece. This is no great surprise, considering Howard’s 16 technicals and Amare Stoudemire’s 15.

Van Gundy, who has seven himself, has defended Howard vigorously. He insists a player who has been fouled 593 times has shown commendable restraint. His latest defense of Howard included a passive-aggressive refusal to comment about the suspension system because commissioner David Stern, “like a lot of leaders we’ve seen in this world lately,” does not tolerate the expression of opinions that vary from his own.

The system, Van Gundy said, is what “David Stern and his minions” want.

It’s safe to assume another hefty fine may be coming Van Gundy’s way.

Gregg Popovich likes the “respect for the game” emphasis Stern and his minions have applied this season, and this shows in his team’s deportment. He works the refs hard but has drawn only four technicals, and one was rescinded. Only three teams have fewer technical fouls than the Spurs, who have tallied only 14.

The league’s model of decorum: the Nets, with just nine.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, one of two coaches without a technical this season, is acutely aware his star, Kobe Bryant, is in some danger. Bryant earned another technical Sunday, bringing his total to 12, and Jackson promised to remind him he would have to “watch his activity level out there.”

Jackson and Van Gundy say too many technicals were called early this season, when the referees were following the guidelines too strictly.

“I think they calmed everything down after the first two weeks when they were tacking Ts on guys right away for their persistent complaining, maybe the first month,” Jackson said.

“Now, it’s almost back to the usual number.

“We’re going to lose some players, obviously, at this stretch. Kobe has a dozen. He’s got to watch himself a little bit. You don’t want to lose players who are really important at this point.”

What’s really important to the Magic is that Howard minds his temper in their final 18 games. The league mandates another suspension after just two more techs.